Face Your Fears

Saturday, December 7th, 2013

We all come into this life with a positive view of the world. We were excited and imaginative, and we saw the entire universe as our playground.

Then somewhere between college and middle-age, many of seem to lose that optimism for life. Perhaps this stems from telling ourselves that we have to “grow up” and become more realistic. Or perhaps it’s caused by those doubts that creep in our heads, making us wonder if we are just not good enough to ever be that superhero. Whatever the cause, we began creating barriers and limitations for ourselves that caused us to either try, fail, and give up; or even more prevalent, caused us to fail to try at all.

The biggest cause for changing that youthful excitement and optimism can be summed up with one word: “fear.” At some point we became afraid, and we let that fear stop us.

Having fears isn’t something to be ashamed of, as everyone has fears. Rather, when we feel afraid we should think through the possible outcome that is causing our greatest fear and then realize that even if that outcome were to happen we would find a way to work through it. This way allows us to mentally shift our thinking from “I can’t handle it” to “I will get through it.” Thus allowing ourselves to move forward in spite of our fears.

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but the mastery of it.” -Victor Hugo

Summing-up: Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives. To experience adventure or to be limited by the fear of it.